What did the declassified documents reveal?

Today's Declassified presents a memorandum for the record from the Central Intelligence Agency, dated October seventeenth, nineteen sixty-four. This document details a National Security Council meeting where the D-C-I, John McCone, briefed President Lyndon Johnson and other top officials on China's emerging nuclear capabilities and the implications of its first atomic test. This record offers a candid look at U-S intelligence assessments at a critical moment in the Cold War. This record was released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act and is accessible via the Black Vault archives at documents2.theblackvault.com. It was declassified by the C-I-A as part of a collection of U-S intelligence on China. The document, titled "Memorandum for the Record, Washington, October seventeenth, nineteen sixty-four," begins: "Dictated by McCone. Subject: Meeting of the National Security Council--Saturday--twelve o'clock--seventeenth October nineteen sixty-four. With the President--all members present (except Secretary Dillon) plus Secretary Vance, Secretary Ball, and Ambassador Thompson. One. D-C-I opened the meeting with a briefing on the background of ChiCom nuclear capability. I reviewed briefly the Soviet-Chinese collaboration in the mid and late 'fifties: (a) the nuclear energy institute at Peiping with a small heavy water reactor, duplicate of one which I had seen in Moscow (Seaborg had also seen it); (b) the existence of a suspected U-two-thirty-five plant at Lanchow which was not completed and we did not expect would be in operation for two to three years; (c) the existence of a small air-cooled reactor at Pao Tou with capacity to produce about ten kilograms of plutonium per year which we thought went into operation in late 'sixty-three or early 'sixty-four or it might have gone into operation earlier though that is unlikely; (d) the existence of a suspected graphite-moderated water-cooled reactor in the vicinity of Yumen which was first photographed in nineteen sixty-two and again in February nineteen sixty-four; at the latter date the reactor apparently was not operational however I stated it may have been shut down for change of fuel elements and hence it was possible, though by no means certain, that the reactor might have been operational in nineteen sixty-two. I said that the existence of the reactor was not surprising as both we and the Russians had built a small graphite-cooled reactor prior to the construction of our large reactors at Hanford. This reactor had a capacity of between thirty and thirty-five kilograms plutonium per year. The test site at Lop Nor which we have observed over the past two or three years, during recent months had seen considerable activity on the basis of photography of this site, that I had stated in my briefing of the heads of eight Western European Governments that we could expect a nuclear test based on the evidence of the completion of this site within thirty to sixty days from the time of my…

Why was this case declassified?

This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

CIA Today's Declassified Presents A Memorandum For The Record From The Central

◆ BLUF — The short version

Today's Declassified presents a memorandum for the record from the Central Intelligence Agency, dated October seventeenth, nineteen sixty-four. This document details a National Security Council meeting where the D-C-I, John McCone, briefed President Lyndon Johnson and other top officials on China's emerging nuclear capabilities and the implications of its first atomic test.

Date: SEP 1 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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What was CIA Today's Declassified Presents A Memorandum For The Record From The Central about?: Today's Declassified presents a memorandum for the record from the Central Intelligence Agency, dated October seventeenth, nineteen sixty-four. This document details a National Security Council meeting where the D-C-I, John McCone, briefed President Lyndon Johnson and other top officials on China's emerging nuclear capabilities and the implications of its first atomic test.
Why was this case declassified?: This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Storyflo narrates it directly from the public release.

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CIA Today's Declassified Presents A Memorandum For The Record From The Central

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